Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Susana Cook's newest work, Non-Consensual Relationships With Ghosts, premieres at The Club at La MaMa on March 24th and runs through April 2, 2017. Susana took a break from rehearsals to answer our 6 Questions. 1. How do you describe your new show, Non-Consensual Relationships With Ghosts?Non-Consensual Relationships with Ghosts has many experimental components in the writing, and suddenly we are all singing a la Broadway. It’s an ensemble work but it’s also a solo show. It’s playing with language and the non-sense of our times. It’s a collage of powerful images, trying to create resistance through form. It’s fun and it’s tragic too. It’s intense, like the moment we are living. It has 15 actors onstage trying to make sense of a structure that keeps destroying itself all the time.
2. How does it feel to be doing this play in our current political climate? It feels necessary and urgent. We can’t do anything else but referring to what’s happening with whatever art we are creating.
Non-Consensual relationships with Ghosts is a show of the resistance. It’s an attempt to make people feel better, to laugh, to sing and to make them feel part of a community; that’s the best part of the theater experience.
3. What have you learned during the creation of this piece? That the most important part of a theater piece is the energy. That people leave their house to come see us to experience something, and as directors we have to be magicians who can unleash that transformative energy.
4. Who inspires you? Heiner Muller5. What was the last good book you read? I couldn’t read books lately, I am constantly following the news, reading articles, things are happening so fast. But Post-Dramatic Theater by Hans- Thies Lehmann is what comes to mind.
6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you? I always wanted to do a show at La MaMa, I am ecstatic that is finally happening.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Directed and Choreographed by Bianca Falco (Napoli, Campania- NYC, USA)Composed by Alberto Falco (Napoli, Campania)Terra dei Fuochi / Land of Fires is an environmental performance project blending modern dance, music and documentary theatre to tell the story of Campania Felix, an area in Italy north of Naples that suffered devastating loss of life due to a toxic waste disaster and scandal. Accompanying the performance will be panel discussions with local environmentalists regarding land and water contamination issues facing our global community.To accompany the performance, a booth will provide information about the toxic waste afflicting Campania Felix and how this situation can be compared to others around the world. We aim to provide further education in the increasing land and water contamination issues facing our global community.The First Floor Theatre74A East 4th Street(between Bowery and Second Avenue)New York, NY 10003Tickets:$20 Adult Tickets; $15 Student/SeniorsFor Tickets & Info: CLICK HERE

Monday, March 13, 2017

Catherine Filloux's new play, Kidnap Road, is inspired by the story ofIngrid Betancourt. As Filloux explains, "Details of Ingrid Betancourt’s story can be found in the public record. This story is imagined as a two-person play based in part on those events." Catherine took time out from preparing for the show to answer 6 Questions for the La MaMa Blog:1. What was it about the story of Ingrid Betancourt that made you want to explore it? My parents are French and French was my first language. I was in France traveling by train to my aunt’s in Montpellier when Ingrid Betancourt was rescued. France had worked consistently for her rescue. I admire women leaders who fight for the poor, for children, and who risk their life in a male-dominated political climate. I was drawn to the parallels that Ingrid Betancourt and her own mother shared; what they decided to do in terms of their families to pursue politics. I am personally intrigued by family legacies. And PTSD is a theme I have often written about; when I first started writing about it, it was not a well known acronym as it is now, and that exploration has been important to me. Also I wanted to explore the spirituality in this story as well as the dramatization of memory.
2. What surprised you the most about Betancourt or her story?
The story of survival, and the story of the backlash against women leaders and their polarizing effect, which repeats itself.
3. What would you like audiences to take away from Kidnap Road?
I hope they will be immersed in this human struggle onstage, and in the spirit of the unexpected (for example, God and Camus) through the power of language, and our artistic team’s collaboration.
4. What was the last play/film/performance that made an impression on you?
I was pleased to take my sister Marianne, who lives in Montana, to see The Mountain Birdat La MaMa recently. Ibsen’s unfinished opera. We were both amazed by the performers’ physicality. I loved the (slow) climbing up the mountain and the descent; it was mesmerizing in a way I had not seen before. Marianne is a skier as are her friends and family, and if anyone could relate to the process of putting on skis it is her! The performers were intrepid in the Norwegian snow! It was a surprising and memorable performance.
5. If you weren't working in theater, what do you think you'd like to do?
A runner.
6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
La MaMa is home.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

La MaMa Meet-Ups give artists the opportunity to meet our curators and talk about their work.

Simply reserve a time to speak with the staffer in charge of programming for your area of interest. Tell us why you want to work at La MaMa, and show us who you are! Please bring your portfolio and/or resume with supporting materials.

Sign Ups are OPEN for Meet Ups on April 12th, 2017 in the following disciplines:

Monday, March 6, 2017

The Actors Fund is proud to announce that The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts is now open for our community.
The Friedman Health Center is the medical care provider for New York City’s performing arts and entertainment community. Conveniently located in the heart of Times Square at The Actors Fund’s main office (729 Seventh Avenue, 12th Floor, between 48th and 49th Street), The Health Center offers quality care from The Mount Sinai Health System, free on-site health insurance counseling and much more.